A Sleeping Bunny in His Arms
by PikaGirl13
Summary: Concerned about Utsuho's lack of sleep, Neya confronts him after their group settles in a cave for the night after getting out of bandit territory. A comforting Utsuho x Neya fic.


A Sleeping Bunny in His Arms

Even though she felt her eyelids grow heavy, Neya shook herself awake as she pushed forward with her group through the dark mountain pass that cold full moon night. Even though it'd be easier to walk during the daytime, Utsuho called for a all-night trek because the local bandits of the area didn't do night rounds like other territory thugs.

"Mama, when're we gonna leap?" Uzume whined as he threw his arms around Yakuma from behind, surprising the young doctor who was trying desperately to fight the urge to sleep himself.

Yakuma sighed with irritation, "You mean " _ **Sleep**_ ", and I don't know. Probably once we reach a safe location in the next village."

"Hime's already passed out; not surprising considering she sleeps on the dot every night." Hikae said with a soft chuckle, he was giving Iwashi a piggy back ride before she could pass out on the road after she tried her hardest to stay awake pass her normal bedtime.

Chouza grabbed Uzume like a small child and lifted him off of Yakuma, "Leave the doc alone. He's having enough trouble trying to stay awake himself."

"Then YOU carry me Chouza!" Uzume pouted as he curled up like a cat in his best friend's arms.

Chouza sighed in defeat as he couldn't reason with the bird brained brat, so he allowed Uzume a short nap as he gave him a piggy back ride.

"Minamo, are you OK?" Yakuma asked the young girl walking beside him, "Do you need to sleep too?"

Minamo didn't say anything at first, she only looked up at the full moon before finally giving a soft yawn and rubbed her eyes. "Sleep..."

Yakuma smiled as he offered his back to her and she accepted his kind gesture, so Yakuma joined the piggy back team and carried a sleeping Minamo on his back.

"Such gentlemen." Neya cooed affectionately at her friends, loving the intimacy they were displaying that chilly night. "We really seem like a traveling family."

Pochi was sleeping in Tsukumo's arms since Utsuho was too busy trying to make sure they didn't run into any traps on the roads ahead of them. The two Tanuki's had grown much closer in the past couple of months and Utsuho was starting to accept Tsukumo as a part of their group. Which was the only reason why he was allowing Tsukumo to carry Pochi in the first place.

"Tsukumo, you sure you're not tired at all?" Neya asked softly, trying not to wake her friends who were sleeping.

Tsukumo shook his head, "I'm fine. I slept all day today so I'm fine with pulling an all nighter."

"OK if you say so." Neya replied, making the strongest effort not to show her own tiredness.

Finally after keeping quiet for the entire trip, Utsuho turned toward them and gestured towards the mountain side.

"I recognize that cave up ahead, it's the same one I scouted out beforehand while you were all gathering information at the last village. It's empty and good shelter for the rest of tonight. We're out of bandit land now, but we can't be too careful. So I'll take first watch tonight while you guys get some rest."

Yakuma raised his eyebrow questioningly at him, "You're going to take the first watch? But you haven't been able to sleep for two days straight! I think you should sleep and I'll take the first watch."

"Forget it horse face, I'm taking first watch and you're getting your but to bed. Understood?" Utsuho replied sharply but with an affectionate tone to it.

Yakuma was about to argue before Neya spoke up in a soft voice, "I'll stay up with you Utsuho."

"You?" Utsuho said, turning his gaze onto her.

Neya blushed slightly, "I'm not completely tired yet so I might as well help keep watch right?"

"You should focus on sleeping, you're the most tired out of all of us besides me." Utsuho replied, "You haven't said a word because you didn't want to impose on any of us."

Utsuho's reply shocked Neya as he saw right through her silence, "You noticed-"

Yakuma coughed, "Well in any case we need to get to the cave and settle down. Before we turn this moment of relief to a moment of heated words."

So they agreed and reached the cave, it was covered in moss but it was dry and warm. Since the walls blocked the wind from entering its domain. Utsuho took first watch like he said and sat by the entrance while everyone else settled down for the night. Except for one person.

"Neya...I know you're awake." Utsuho softly called out, turning his head at her open eyes looking up at him. "You need to sleep."

"Said the pot to the kettle." Neya replied, crawling over to him and looking into his eyes. "You need to sleep too. You haven't slept in a while and Yakuma's worried about you, everyone's worried about you. You usually love sleeping until recently."

Utsuho said nothing at first, only looked at her like he was analyzing a document until finally he smiled, "You idiot, you don't need to be so worried about me. I'll be fine, sometime later I might tell you what's wrong but right now you need to get some sleep. So I'll make a promise, you sleep right now and I'll tell you the whole story later. Deal?"

"Do you swear you'll tell me?"

"I swear on my white hair."

Neya looked at him until she realized her vision was beginning to blur and her strength was leaving her arms, causing her to collapse on his lap with no strength to move at all. The journey had finally taken its toll on her.

"See? I told you before. You need to sleep." Utsuho softly chuckled, but he softly maneuvered her body into his arms and held her princess style on his lap, with her head resting on his shoulder.

It was almost like he was holding one of the local village children again in his arms but after a moment he likened it more to holding a small rabbit in his arms. Fragile, soft, and precious but also very strong in their own right. A description that suited Neya sleeping very well in his opinion.

So as Utsuho held Neya in his arms, he felt their warmth exchange as he kept her warm and her scent was sweet like berries. It was a calming effect and he felt himself starting to sleep, so knowing he could no longer fight it, he rested his head on top of Neya's affectionately and passed out. Sleeping like a pair of lovers after a long romantic walk in a festival.

A special moment that Neya would never forget.


End file.
